


The Heart’s Dragon

by sleepingdragon



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dragonriders of Pern
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-10
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2017-12-04 21:51:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/715486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepingdragon/pseuds/sleepingdragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anya gets her revenge for Xander leaving her at the alter when Willow and Buffy learn of the lie he told when Buffy was going to stop Angelus from releasing Acathala.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Xander watched as Willow and Buffy walked away from him without a backwards look. They had finally found out about him lying to Buffy during the whole Angelus deal. Willow had slapped him and did the one thing that they had all sworn never to do. She had wished that Xander would go to another dimension so that he could know what Angel had been through. None of them had noticed Anyanka standing behind a tree with a gleeful look on her face. All that time trying to get the others to make a wish against him so that she could get her vengeance for being left at the alter two months ago and all it had taken was the girls finding out about a necessary lie. 

She softly said, “Wish granted!” and vanished into the night.

Xander was walking home when he suddenly felt a tug on his spine and he blinked out of sight.


	2. Chapter One

Xander felt like he was floating through space for a few minutes before he was suddenly dropping like a boulder. It felt like he was being squeezed through an opening that was three sizes too small for his body for a few minutes before he popped through and into hot air. He yelped as he fell through the air and then landed on the ground with a soft grunt. 

“Damn you, Anya! Why did you have to be listening tonight of all nights. Where the hell did you send me?”

He stood up to look around and was surprised to see that he was in a cave with people sitting on stone benches. He smiled and began to slowly back away only to stop when something bumped up against his legs. He looked down and gasped when he saw a small red dragon with wet wings trying to balance up on its hind legs. 

“Hey, little guy. Where’s your mama?”

Xander looked all around him and saw the rafters full of dragons of different colors. Looking around a little more he saw the big golden dragon sitting down on the sands watching her eggs and the babies that hatched. 

Xander began to slowly back away and said, “I am not trying to steal your baby! Please don’t eat me!”

The golden dragon cocked her head to the side before looking down at the little red dragon at Xander’s feet. Xander looked down as well and saw that the little dragon was trying to get his attention. He knelt down and looked into the dragon’s eyes only to gasp when he heard a soft voice echoing in his head.

*Hello, Rider. My name is Hart.*

“Are you talking to me?”

*Of course, my Rider. What is your name, Rider?*

“My name is Xander, Hart. Are you sure your mom will like you talking to me?”

*My layer is waiting for us all to choose riders. It is the way of things here. I am rather hungry though so can we find food before we talk further?*

Xander smiled and said, “Sure, Hart. I’m sure they have something around here for you to eat if they’re expecting you to hook up with someone.”

He looked up at the big gold and asked, “Is there somewhere I can find something for Hart to eat around here, Ma’am?”

A deep voice said, “Follow the other young riders. There are tables set up outside with bowls of food for the weyrlings to sate their first hunger.”

Xander looked confused for a minute at the male voice coming from the dragon before he realized that it had actually come from above and behind the gold dragon. He looked up and saw four people sitting in a stone balcony. 

He raised his hand in greeting and said, “Thanks, Sir.”

With that he patted Hart’s neck and said, “Come on, Hart. They’re providing food for you and your siblings. Let’s go see what they’ve got for you.”

The two walked side by side out of the cavern and over to the tables where the other dragon/boy couples were heading. Xander got into a line behind another boy and his dragon only to have someone shove a bowl full of meat into his hands. He took the bowl of meat and headed over to a spot that was out of the way and began dropping chunks down his little dragon’s throat. He smiled as Hart gulped the chunks down almost faster than he could grab another chunk. 

“Easy there, buddy. You don’t want to get a tummy ache from eating too fast.”

Hart gulped the last chunk down and said, *I won’t get a tummy ache. I’m made to gulp my food.*

Xander laughed and said, “I’ll bet you are. I wonder what will happen next.”

Suddenly, there was the sound of a loud argument and Xander stood to see what was causing the commotion. He saw several men shouting at each other and pointing back at the cavern before pointing at a boy who was standing off to the side of the men with a dejected look on his face.

Xander looked down at his dragon and asked, “Did I steal you from that boy, Hart?”

*No, Xander. The boy was just not right for any of the dragons hatched today. He will be offered the choice to stay and wait for the next hatching to see if he is right for one of them. Or, he could go to one of the other Weyrs that are due to have a hatching today. There are three due today.*

“So, why is that man so angry?”

*He wanted to have his son Impress a Benden dragon. He already has three sons who Impressed dragons in three other Wyers. Ramoth seems to think that he wants a son in each Wyer so that he can call on all of them to protect his land. He is a greedy man according to Ramoth’s rider.*

“Oh. I hate people like that. It makes no sense to have kids just for that purpose. It hurts the kids in the long run.”

*Are you sad, Xander?*

Xander smiled and said, “A little bit. I was raised by parents who didn’t really want me and I got here because my friends no longer wanted me around them. I’ll be okay in a few days. This is just a little weird for me.”

Hart rubbed his head against Xander’s leg and gave a rumbling sound that made Xander smile. He reached down and ran his hand over the little dragon’s head. He looked up when a shadow fell over him and saw the group of people who had been in the balcony behind the gold dragon. 

Xander smiled at them and said, “Hi. Thanks for the info on where to find some food for Hart.”

The tall guy who had told him where to go for the food nodded before kneeling to give Hart a good look. The woman who was standing beside him stepped forward as well to look the little dragon over.

The other guy in the group asked, “Who are you and how did you get into the Hatching Sands?”

Xander shrugged and said, “My name is Xander Harris and how I got into the cavern there is a little hard to believe for people who have never been exposed to the supernatural.”

The small woman stood up from inspecting Hart and asked, “What do you mean by ‘supernatural’?”

Xander took a deep breath and said, “Where I came from there were all kinds of weird things that went on after dark. There were things like Vampires and Demons wandering all over the place and killing people every night. I was part of a group that dealt with the creatures of the night. One night, a friend made a wish in anger and a demon overheard her and decided to grant her wish. The wish was that I go to another dimension to feel what another guy from our group had felt when he went to another dimension due to me lying to the girl who was fighting him. He was evil at the time and my friend was trying to turn him good again but, I didn’t know if the attempt would be successful so I lied about what was going on. He went to another dimension that was a hell dimension and then came back some four months later. Unfortunately, for him it was like four hundred years. My friend made the wish that sent me here in anger when she found out that I had lied about the spell being done to turn the guy back to the side of good.”

The man that had knelt to inspect Hart had stood up and now said, “It sounds to me like you did what was needed to insure that the rest of your group was safe from the man who was out to harm them.”

Xander nodded and said, “Yeah. I figured that they would see that when they finally found out about the lie but, they’re girls and the guy was part of our group in a way. They were teenage girls and only saw me being jealous of the guy and doing whatever I could to get him out of the running for their attention.”

He shrugged and ran his hand over the head of the little dragon who was rubbing against his leg in a comforting way. The man who had asked for his name and how he got into the cave shook his head and began to move away toward a woman who was calling his name. 

The small woman from the balcony finally shrugged and said, “Whatever else you may be you are now a dragonrider of Pern. Welcome to Benden Weyr, Dragonrider X’nder.”

The man with her gave a chuckle and said, “Welcome to Benden Weyr, Dragonrider X’nder. I am Weyrleader F’lar and this is the Weyrwoman Lessa. The weyrlingmaster will show you to your weyr and give you the timetable for the weyrling training you’ll need to care for your young dragon.”

The man bowed slightly and then turned to leave with the Weyrwoman. Xander scratched his head and then made his way over to where the other people with new dragons were standing. He stood listening to the guy who was in charge of the young dragonriders and began to understand really quick that this was one class that he would actually need to pay attention in so that he could survive.  
Once the weyrlingmaster had shown all of the new pairs where they were going to be bunking down Xander went off with Hart to investigate the area of the bowl shaped valley they were in. As he went to head down to the lake he saw from his weyr an older boy stepped into his path. 

Xander stopped just before running into the guy and said, “Sorry, man. Didn’t see you there.”

“Obviously. You didn’t see that the dragon you stole was heading for my little brother either, did you? You’d have to have been blind not to see that it was heading for my little brother when you slipped out of the rafters where you were hiding from your chores. Give the dragon up to his rightful owner then you won’t have to suffer a real bad ‘accident’ which could cause you to fall down the stairs.”

Xander snorted and said, “Even if I could give up Hart to someone else, I wouldn’t give him to anyone related to you. You obviously have been hit to many times by a chunk of rock around here. I’d move somewhere safer if I were you.”

Xander then went to step around him and ended up stepping on the one stone in twenty feet of them that actually was loose and went sliding down the side of the cliff. Xander managed to use the few lessons he’d had in surfing to keep from falling to his death just managing to keep his feet on the stone that had sent him sliding and standing as he went down at an incredible speed. He was just thankful that the cliff wasn’t a straight drop down. 

The entire Weyr stopped what they were doing when they heard the sound of the falling stone. F’lar was on his dragon as quickly as possible and dropping down so that he could catch the young man who had literally dropped into their lives. The boy was interesting and the Weyrleader wanted to learn everything he could about the young man who was so different from anyone he had ever met. F’lar reached the lowest ledge just as Xander got there and he reached out with one hand to grab the hand that the boy had stretched out for balance. Xander looked up at F’lar when he grabbed his hand. 

“Thanks, man. That could have ended badly for me.”

F’lar nodded and said, “It would have been very bad indeed if you had died, X’nder. If you had died your dragon would have gone Between as well.”

“Don’t know what that means but, it sounds like something I want to avoid.”

F’lar nodded and said, “It means the death of your dragon if you die.”

Xander frowned and said, “Yep. Definitely want to avoid that.”

F’lar directed his dragon back up to his ledge and let Xander slide down his dragon’s shoulder to the ground. He followed him down and then back up to the Weyrling cavern that had been assigned to the new guy. 

“What happened that caused you to going sliding down the cliff, X’nder?” asked F’lar.

Xander shrugged and said, “One of the guys got in my face about stealing Hart from his little brother. I went to step around him and then the stone broke free sending me sliding down at a nice fast pace. Thank God I took those surfing lessons Jesse wanted me to.”

F’lar nodded even though he had no idea what *surfing* was. He just made sure that Xander was safely in his Weyr before going back to his dragon and flying back to his own Weyr where Lessa was waiting for him to join her.

Xander gave Hart a pat on the neck before he lay down on his bed of furs and drifted off to sleep thinking about his friends in Sunnydale.


	3. Chapter Two

Back in Sunnydale

Willow walked beside Buffy still very angry with Xander over the lie he had told about the Soul Restoration Spell. They made their way to Giles’ house quickly to discuss what they should do to punish Xander when they saw him again. They walked into Giles’ house and shut the door to the night.

Giles looked up at their entrance and asked, “Where is Xander, girls?”

Buffy sniffed and said, “He’s still out there at the cemetery where we left him after we found out about him lying to me about Willow doing the Restoration spell.”

Willow nodded and said, “We needed to decide what to do to punish him for it.”

Giles glared at them and said, “You found out about a lie he told several years ago to protect us and the rest of the world and decided that he needed to be punished? You left him alone out there in the demon infested night until you decide what kind of punishment you would deal out to him? Are you girl’s stupid or just plain ungrateful for everything he has ever done for you?”

The two girls looked at each other and then Buffy said, “Xander can take care of himself long enough to get to his house.”

Giles glared at the two girls even harder and, finally, Buffy huffed before saying, “Fine! I’ll go look for him and make sure he got home alright. Not nice to take the side of a liar over your Slayer, Giles! Do you realize the pain he caused me?”

“I realize the pain he saved us all by making sure that an evil was taken care of before it took any more people from us, Buffy. It is due to your inability to dust the vampire that looked like your lover that so many lives were lost and due to Xander’s ability to tell a simple lie that so many were saved. Do you realize what would have happened if Angelus had managed to release Acathala fully onto the world? There would be no more humans roaming the streets as a free people. Every human would be either killed or enslaved to the demons. Now, go find Xander!”

Buffy glared at her Watcher for a few more minutes before flouncing out the door while Willow stayed behind to talk to Giles.  
“Do you really think that Buffy would have lost if Xander hadn’t lied to her, Giles?”

“Yes, Willow. I’m afraid she would have. She was more worried about getting her lover back than saving lives at that point. If Xander had not told her you said to kick his ass then she would have merely stalled for time which would have resulted in Angelus winning and demons over-running the world. She has always and will always have a blind spot as far as Angel is concerned. Xander really was only trying to save the world and not just being a jealous prat.”

Willow sat in Giles’ living room for a while thinking about what he had said before realizing that he was right and that Xander had been concerned that the spell would be too much for her to do again in her condition. Suddenly, the front door slammed open and Buffy ran through it.

Giles looked up from the book he was reading and asked, “Where is Xander, Buffy?”

“I couldn’t find him. I found where Xander walked away from the spot and it looked like he was heading home when his tracks simply disappeared. There were some signs that a demon might have been watching us while we argued but, there was no sign of a struggle or even that the demon followed him. What could that mean, Giles? I was angry at him for lying to me but, I don’t want him hurt or worse.”

Giles sighed softly at the obvious concern for her friend and then said, “We will search for the answers, Buffy. Did the demon leave any kind of marks behind?”

Willow’s eyes suddenly bugged out and she said, “Oh, no. I can’t believe I was so stupid. I shouldn’t be allowed to speak when I’m angry.”

“What is it, Willow? Did you think of something?”

“I made a wish tonight. When we were arguing with Xander I made a wish that he would go to another dimension so he could feel what he put Angel through. What….what if some vengeance demon was watching us and granted my wish? How can we find Xander in another dimension?”

Willow was beginning to hyperventilate until Giles reached over and slapped her just hard enough to break her out of the trance she was in.

“It’s alright, Willow. We need only go out and shake a few tongues loose to find out if anyone is bragging about sending Xander away.”

Buffy and Willow nodded just before there was a knock on the front door. Giles sighed and went to answer the door. On the other side was Spike.

“What do you want, Spike? We’re having a bit of an emergency.”

Spike snorted and asked, “What’s the emergency? Searchin’ for droopy?”

Buffy spun around and had the blonde vampire by the throat in an instant.

“What do you know about Xander’s disappearance, Spike?”

Spike grabbed at Buffy’s hand and said, “I can’t talk if you’re choking me, Slayer.”

Buffy gave his throat an extra hard squeeze and then released him after saying, “You’d better talk and talk quick if you wanna stay among the un-dead, Spike.”

Spike rubbed at his throat for a minute before sitting down and saying, “I was on my way back to my crypt from a game of poker when I saw Xander walking ahead of me. I went to call out to him but, before I could he disappeared in a bright flash. There was a second flash of light from behind a tree but, I didn’t see who or what was there. From the size of the footprints left there whoever or whatever it was had small feet. That’s all I know, Slayer. When I realized what had happened I made my way here to tell you. Don’t really care much for you lot but, the boy’s got balls the size of basketballs and I have some real respect for him. I’d hate to see anything really bad happen to him. Not to mention that Angelus would have my head for letting anything happen to him.”

Buffy’s head turned to him quickly and she asked, “Why would Angel care if something happened to Xander? They hate each other.”

Spike snorted and said, “I don’t know why he’d care I just know that the last time I spoke to him he made me swear to watch out for Harris. As it is, I’m gonna have to call and tell him that the boy has gone missing and I’m not looking forward to it.”

Spike turned to look at Giles and asked, “Can I use your phone to call the poof, Watcher?”

Giles nodded and pointed to where he had moved the phone to. Spike went over and grabbed the cordless handset before making his way into the kitchen to make the call.

*Angel Investigations! We help the hopeless. How may we help you tonight?*

“Cheerleader, let me talk to the broody one.”

*Spike! How great to hear from you. Why should I let you talk to Angel?*

“Because it’s about your ex. The poof has had me watching over him for a while now and I need to tell him something that has happened.”

*Sigh! Fine. I’ll get the boss. ANGEL! YOUR BLEACHED MENACE OF A CHILDE IS ON THE PHONE ASKING FOR YOU!*

Spike jerked the phone away from his ear and snarled.

“Bitch! Don’t yell in my ear.”

*Whatever, Spike. It’s not like you’ll go permenantely deaf or anything.*

Spike’s growl was interrupted by the phone being taken away from Cordelia and Angel’s voice coming over the line.

*Spike? What’s going on?*

“Sire, I’m calling to let you know that Harris has been highjacked to an unkown location. Red seems to think that a vengeance demon may have over-heard her making a wish for the boy to go to another dimension so that he could know what you went through when you went to the hell dimension after the Acathala stunt.”

*Why would Willow make such a wish, Spike?*

“Appearantly the boy lied to the Slayer about Red doing the restoration spell after the first time was a bust.”

*Damn it! I knew about that lie. He and I talked about it not long after I came back. He apologized to me and explained what he was thinking when he told Buffy that Willow said for her to kick my ass. Do they have any idea as to where he may have been sent?*

“Not yet. I think the Watcher is looking up a way to summon a vengeance demon to ask if they have heard anything about the wish being granted and if so, by who.”

Spike could hear Angel tapping his fingers on the countertop and the questions being asked by the group on that side.

*Tell them that we’ll be there tomorrow night and I want some answers by then.*

“Right. You might want to be ready to answer some questions as to why you’re so worried about the boy when you get here.”

*I’ll handle it when we get there, Childe. Take care of yourself ‘til I get there.*

“See you later, Sire.”

He hung up the phone and went back out to the living room and said, “Angel and his group will be here tomorrow night and he wants answers by the time he gets here.”

Giles pulled his glasses off and asked, “What is his concern with Xander’s well-being, Spike?”

Spike shrugged and said, “Not really sure m’self, Rupert. All I know is that they’re real friendly and Angel treats the boy rather like a favored Childe. Without the sex and killing.”


	4. Chapter Three

Back With Xander

Xander woke up the next day and looked around at his surroundings and gave a sigh.

"So it wasn't just a bad dream. Anya sent me to another dimension when Willow made that damn wish. Well, better get up and figure out what the situation is gonna be like until I get pulled back into my dimension."

With that Xander got up and headed out of his weyr. He saw the little red dragon that had chosen him yesterday and had to smile as the dragon, Hart, rolled over on his back with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Xander smiled and knelt down to pet the little beast on his belly. Hart opened his eyes and then flipped over to his stomache to nuzzle his snout into Xander's hand.

*Good morning, X'nder. How did you sleep?*

"Better than I have in a long time, Hart. What say you to us going and getting some breakfast?"

*Yes, please. I am ever so hungry.*

Xander stood up and headed out the cave opening to find a line of young boys and girls with small dragons heading down to the bowl floor to feed their dragons. 

Xander looked down at Hart and said, "Looks like we may have to wait a few minutes to get down to the feeding area, buddy."

Hart crooned softly back and sat down to wait for the line to move. As they were waiting a larger dragon flew by and then flew back around to clutch at the side of the wall so that it's rider could speak to Xander. 

"Rider X'nder! How are you this morning? Sleep well last night?"

"Yeah. Best sleep I've had in ages. Sorry, I don't know your name."

"Quiet alright, lad. You didn't have much time to really meet anyone before you were off to your weyr and sound asleep. My name is F'lessan and this is my dragon Golanth."

"Nice to meet you, F'lessan. And you as well Golanth. How long before breakfast is over?"

"The kitchen is never closed since riders and dragons are always coming in from their duties at odd times. Of course, grown dragons don't eat as often as young dragons do. Young dragons think of nothing but their stomaches for the first month or so. It won't be long before you'll start to hear your dragon complaining about how itchy his skin is."

Xander nodded and asked, “What do I do when that starts to happen?”

“You’ll be given a tub of oil and a brush that you’ll need to start rubbing into your dragon’s hide before he starts complaining.” laughed F’lessan.

Xander smiled and said, “It’ll be nice to be able to do something with my hands again. I’ve been a bit distracted with taking care of my friend’s little sister here lately.”

F’lessan smiled and said, “We’ve all been a bit distracted by the re-colonization of the Southern Continent around here. Golanth and I have been flying all over Southern and trying to see if we can move some of the older dragonriders down there safely so they don’t have to fly Thread Fall so much. It’ll save a whole bunch of dragons and riders if the older riders can move down to Southern. Not to mention that it will save the younger riders from having to listen to their hidebound ways block our every attempt to move forward with the times.”

Xander laughed as he thought about the way Buffy was always going on about the Watcher’s Council and their traditionalist ways blocking her way to having a real life outside of being the Slayer.


	5. Chapter 5

Back in Sunnydale

 

The girls had a bad night of sleep worrying about Xander and how he was doing. They made it through their classes and met up Oz on the way to the Magic Box to meet up with Giles. Willow was still so upset that she had wished her first friend away to some horrible hell dimension that she really hadn't noticed that her boyfriend had come up beside her. Oz got worried when neither girl answered his greeting but knew that Giles would be able to tell him what was going on. Once they got to the Magic Box he quietly asked the older an what had happened to cause the girls to be so morose.

Giles sighed as he looked at the two girls and said, " They found out that Xander lied to Buffy about Willow trying the re-soul spell after it failed the first time. They got into an argument with him and, in anger, Willow made wish for him to go to another dimension to feel how Angel felt. There was apparently a vengence demon hanging around just waiting for a wish and granted it. We're not sure which dimension Xander was sent to but, we have hope of finding the demon who sent him away. Also, Angel and his group will be here tonight to help. Apparently Angel and Xander made amends and now Angel has Spike watching over the lad while he can't be here."

Oz nodded and said, "I've seen Spike take some demons on that were after Xander a couple of times. I thought it was just because Xander had been getting him some old human blood from the blood bank."

Giles started to say something more but was stopped when Spike came in through the backroom and said, "Boy does that because he knows that I heal better with human than pig after a bad fight. Save that for emergencies only. Poof will be here soon, Rup'. Hope you have some answers for him."

"Unfortunately, I don't, Spike. We will need to hit the demon bars and the other places you go to get information. If I could find Anya I would ask her which of her old crowd might do something like this but,she seems to have disappeared herself."

"Could she have gone back to being a demon? Maybe got her old job back?" asked Oz.

Giles raised an eyebrow and said, "That is entirely possible, Oz. I will get the ingredients to call her together and we shall see."


End file.
